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Asuma
Classification and Dialects This language was once an agglutinative language. It has gradually turned into a fusional one. Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Syllable structure: A nucleus consisting in a vowel is always mandatory. V = vowel, W = approximant, N = nasal consonant, C = any other consonant than W or N V, WV, CV, NV, CWV, NWV The Asumanese language has a front/back vowel harmony. Lexical stress: no. Prosodic stress: yes, on penult. Writing System Grammar Nouns Nouns decline in number, gender and case. They are either in singular or plural. They come in three different genders: neuter or mixed, feminine and masculine. Inflection pattern: stem-number-gender-case Number For plural /u/ or /i/ is suffixed to nouns depending on vowel harmony contraints. Before a vowel the markers are reduced to /w/ and /j/. That is the usual case. Gender Case The nominative serves as a case of presentation and entry in dictionaries. It shows the subject in a sentence. The accusative is mainly a case for objects. In addition, some prepositive phrases require this case. The genetive is used to show dependencies between entities, such as possession. In Asumanese, you indicate place and time with the locative case. Pronouns Their declension differs somewhat from noun declension. Pronouns feature a clitic that can either be used to put an emphasis on the purport of nominative subjects or possessive adjectives. In the first situation, the clitic comes immediately after the verb. And in the second, it succeeds the element qualified by the adjective. You may also use them without a nominative subject or possessive adjective. Since they lack case endings, their role is open to interpretation. The clitics are not (yet) under the vowel harmony's influence. Personal pronouns Neuter Feminine Masculine Demonstrative pronouns Relative and interrogative pronouns Verbs Moods Indicative, conditional, potential, subjuntive, imperative and infinitive. Infinitive is considered as one of the moods and come in a short form and a long form. Both may be preceeded by the abstractive preposition "xe" or "xo" according to the long infinitive ending "-re" or "-ro". All long forms follow the rule: (xe) stem-re | (xo) stem-ro Tenses = Simple tenses = Asumanese has three basic verb tenses present, past and future. Simple present: current event, "something is getting done here and now" Simple past: memory of an event, "something got done before this" Simple future: projection for an event, "something will get done after this" = Complex tenses = Also a variety of compound tenses allow for further nuance. In principle, strings of multiple constituants are possible. However, their number rarely exceeds three. The longer the string the smaller the frequency. The auxilary verbs used with present pariciples are movement verbs, think of enter, stay and leave. Simple present + present participle: current habit or condition Simple past + present participle: memory of a habit or condition Simple future + present participle: projection for a habit or condition The auxilary verbs used with past pariciples are possession verbs, think of take, keep and give. Simple present + past participle: current result of a past event Simple past + past participle: memory of a result of a past event Simple future + past participle: projection for a result of a current event First conjugation Second conjugation Copulae There are no copulae as such. Neither is there direct equivalents of English "there is". In order to assert something exists, one would only use the plain referent ("A dog" instead of "There's a dog"). Having the prepositions "xe" and "xo" render better an English noun phrase in isolation. Negation The basic negation word is "ni" or "nu", depending on the vowel harmony. Adjectives Participles Past neuter: -de, -do feminine: -di, -dê, -dâ masculine: -da, -dô, -du Present neuter: -be, -bo feminine: -bi, -bê, -bâ masculine: -ba, -bô, -bu Adverbs -mi, -mu Prepositions Syntax Due to the case system the word order may vary for focal or stylistic reasons. However, the unmarked arrangement is: SVO On the other hand, the use of pronoun clitics make things a little more complex. They can act as the subject. Lexicon English-Asuma no: ni, nu yes: si, su hello: âlu thank you (singular informal): gaje tena thank you (plural and formal): gaje vena Asuma-English gire: i'' to enter, get in; ''t ''to put in, ''aux to be about (to do) êre: i'' to stay, remain; ''t to keep in, aux to be (doing) fâro: i'' to leave, get out; ''t ''to take out, ''aux ''to have been (doing) tare: ''i to take, remove; aux to be going (to do) uro: i'' to keep, retain; ''aux to have (done) sôre: i'' to give, let; ''aux to have just (done) voro: i & t to speak; to talk, discuss Example text Tônô uôto votô. You (the man) have spoken. Nânô tavi votâ. We (women) are going to speak. Xo voro ve. You talking. Nu voro ve. It's not your speech. Vobumu. Talkatively (of a male)